Small Town Journalism in Rural Communities: Alamogordo, New Mexico A Case Study

Small town journalism in rural towns and communities with a population of less than 50,000 commands little attention from the national press. However, small town community news is even more critical than ever in reaching readers and listeners. As the national divide between urban and rural areas expands, so does the need for local news coverage to inform, engage and educate the public on state and local issues.  Television news and the large urban newspapers and radio stations now primarily cover the big stories, closer to home. They have reduced their staffs and focus on the attention-grabbing stories; a small-town news desert is evolving in large swaths of the nation.

Alamogordo and the surrounding communities of Otero County, New Mexico is a community, that until 2021 was in a news desert.

A news desert refers to a community that is no longer covered by daily or nondaily newspaper (print or online) or is underserved by a local paper that is a ghost newspaper. 

A ghost newspaper is a publication (print or online) that has become a shadow of its former self. If one looks at the news archives of the Alamogordo Daily News, one sees until the 1990's the paper was dense in local coverage of local sports, business and had multiple local editors, writers and investigative reporters that sat at the courthouse, government meetings and every sporting event. Now the paper has only 1 staff member or reporter locally and they produce only local story per day. A shadow of itself. From its founding till the 90's it was a huge donor to local schools and provided much free advertising to local nonprofit organizations. That is no longer the case.

According to a study by the UNC School of Media and Journalism, more than 1,300 communities in the U.S. are considered news deserts in 2018 and by 2023 that number has grown. Alamogordo, New Mexico was one such desert until the launch of AlamogordoTownNews.com and Alamogordo Conservative Daily and the streaming radio edition of AlamogordoTownNews.com, via KRAZY KALH Radio. These partnered organizations collaborate to fill a media void. This collaboration is showing success in filling the void of news, community outreach and engagement with a community with a wet appetite for community information and various viewpoints. 

Their approach facilitated as a strategy by 2nd Life Media Inc, has been to use modern technologies such as Social Media Groups, YouTube Podcasts and streaming to reach readers and listeners. This approach of adapting from old media tactics of simple print to expand reach has shown success with more eyes and ears engaging with the news platforms. 

This adaptation in approach has expanded their daily reach from a few thousand to an average of 12,000 to 14,000 consistent daily readers and listeners. A benefit to this technology engaged approach is daily they can track metrics of downloads, time spent reading stories and react quickly to getting information before the public that is timely and relevant and to the social media platforms in which they are engaging. 

Small town journalism is an essential part of democracy and the foundation of the first amendment.  Newspapers both print and online perform an important watchdog role: acting as the public’s eyes and ears to ensure the public is aware of the activities of those in power. It is also a source of positivity highlighting those businesses, organizations and individuals that make a positive impact to their communities. This information builds community. 

Penelope Muse Abernathy notes five democratic functions of local newspapers (print and online) in her book Saving Community Journalism:

• Being the primary source for local, original reporting
• Defining the public agenda
• Encouraging economic growth and commerce
• Fostering a sense of geographic community
• Helping the public to understand the issues relevant to voting.

This final function on Abernathy’s list is a particularly important relationship—that between voters and newspapers. Studies by Jack McLeod, for instance, identify a relationship between local media consumption and “institutionalized participation”—actions like voting and contacting local officials—concluding “it is clear that communication plays a central role in stimulating and enabling local political participation.”

Locally in Alamogordo, New Mexico, in the election of 2020, there was little local coverage of the local candidates and candidates at the state level to feed to local readers and listeners. The Alamogordo Daily News (the established ghost of a newspaper) published stories on the national candidates primarily produced for national distribution by USA Today or the Associated Press. Little in the way of local coverage was available.

In the election of 2022 and local municipal elections of 2023, the news desert was much more fluid with information via local interviews, editorials, and issues discussions with the local candidates with the introduction of 2nd Life Media AlamogordoTownNews.com and the radio edition of Alamogordo Town News KRAZY KALH Radio. That information was distributed to where the public engages, streaming and via Social Media group pages, and via YouTube Podcasts.

 In the 2023 municipal and school board elections each candidate was provided a forum and much more local news coverage was provided. Voter turnout was still low, however there was significant news coverage of the Alamogordo City Commission races, and the school board races, and each had historic outcomes. 

The city commission race resulted in two African American candidates not affiliated with the conservative majority party elected to the Alamogordo city commission. This was a historic first in a conservative community with a racial makeup of only 3% of the population identifying as African American. Strong candidates with a track record of community service that was highlighted via news coverage played an important factor in those wins.

 The school board race garnered significant media attention and also resulted in a historic transfer of power. All three incumbents lost the election. In elections, it is rare to see a complete incumbent makeover of any legislative body. Concerns with the quality of the schools was key factor which was demonstrated via social media dialog in response to news stories generated by the local media.

When such small papers die, it’s not a tragedy because a community is suddenly set adrift in a hazardous sea of partisan misinformation; it’s a tragedy because the anchoring role the paper played in that community is severed. This is made even worse by their collective, gradual demise being pressed into the service of a completely separate political agenda. With the support of the public 2nd Life Media is serving that void to keep tragedy at bay.

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